Qualcomm Announces Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Mobile Platform

Qualcomm took the wraps off its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 mobile platform at its Snapdragon Summit today. This is the company’s latest mobile SoC that will power some of the best flagship Android phones that will launch in the coming weeks, and it will packed with new AI features.

“Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 infuses high-performance AI across the entire system to deliver premium-level performance and extraordinary experiences to consumers,” said Chris Patrick, senior vice president and general manager of mobile handsets at Qualcomm. “This platform unlocks a new era of generative AI enabling users to generate unique content, help with productivity, and other breakthrough use cases.”

Compared to the previous generation chip, the Hexagon NPU on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will deliver up to 98% faster performance for AI workloads, all while using 40% less power. The AI engine on Qualcomm’s NPU is also the first to support on-device multi-modal generative AI models to run these workloads locally with better speed and privacy.

For camera enthusiasts, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will enable new AI-powered features to optimize pictures, remove unwanted subjects and objects, and more. Qualcomm’s Cognitive ISP will also be able to extend a photo beyond what was captured.

If you’re interested in detailed specs, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 will come with an 8-core CPU with one “Prime” core, 5 Performance cores, and 2 Efficiency cores. For the first time, the Adreno GPU on that chip will support hardware-accelerated ray tracing with global illumination on games using Unreal Engine 5.2. The chip will also support running games at 240 FPS on 1080p external displays that support that refresh rate. Moreover, upscaling games to 8K on external displays that support that resolution will also be possible.

Regarding wireless connectivity, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 includes the first 5G model with an integrated AI tensor hardware accelerator to optimize speeds. The chip is also future-proof with support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4.

Qualcomm’s new chip will also support Snapdragon Seamless, a cross-platform technology that will allow users to link multiple devices across different operating systems. As an example, it will be possible to use the same mouse and keyboard across Windows PCs and Android phones and tablets, and dragging files and windows across devices will also be possible.

Snapdragon Seamless sounds a lot like what Apple did with Universal Control, which lets users in the Apple ecosystem use the same keyboard and mouse or trackpad across a Mac and iPad. However, Snapdragon Seamless will only support Android devices with a Snapdragon 8 gen 3 chip, as well as PCs powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X Elite PC SoC.

Qualcomm said today that ASUS, Honor, OnePlus, OPPO, realme, Redmi, Sony, and Xiaomi will be among the first smartphone manufacturers to release new devices with its new chip. This year’s Samsung Galaxy S23/S23+/S23 Ultra all used the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 instead of the company’s own Exynos chip, and the Galaxy S24 will likely continue to use Qualcomm’s latest flagship SoC.